Shirou Emiya Stands on Terra Chapter 16

That title suited Shirou perfectly, but he absolutely couldn't say it in front of them. After all, with the Exusiai apple pie incident still fresh in everyone's minds, nobody wanted Shirou to play any more pranks on them.

After all, unconditionally indulging them and satisfying their every culinary desire meant that even when they were being mischievous, they would still grumble a bit before helping clean up the mess.

He also only looked for discounted items at the supermarket, and he had a knack for tidying up.

It was simply— cough cough cough, I can't say it, I can't say it. It would be bad if I accidentally let it slip.

"It's fine, eat quickly. The pan-fried dumplings won't taste good if they get cold."

Shirou breathed a sigh of relief and changed the subject. If Sora knew the nickname the Penguin Logistics group had given him, he would definitely strictly control their diets.

For example, Pocky, apple pie, desserts, and drinks—consuming less of them would be beneficial for the body.

"Okay, luckily I came back early, or I wouldn't have been able to eat this."

Sora lightly dipped the pan-fried dumpling in some chili sauce before taking a bite.

With the chili sauce, the flavor of the pan-fried dumpling became even richer, and Sora quickly cleared the plate in front of her.

Afterward, she helped Shirou clean up the bowls and plates and put them in the kitchen sink.

"Hmm? Did something happen to you today, Shirou? Were you attacked?"

Sora noticed the jacket hanging outside. It had large and small holes and burn marks on it.

"I ran into a fire, but only my clothes got burned."

Shirou was wiping the table, not mentioning that he had rushed into the fire himself.

"Is that so?"

Sora felt like something was off, but she didn't press further and changed the subject instead.

"But Shirou, you only seem to have this one jacket, right?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't really matter. The weather's been getting warmer lately, so I probably won't have many chances to wear a jacket. I'll buy a new one when I have time later."

"That's true... Have you thought about asking the boss for a Penguin Logistics uniform jacket?"

Sora thought about Shirou's financial situation for a moment and offered her opinion.

"A uniform jacket?"

Shirou blinked in surprise, then remembered that the Penguin Logistics staff seemed to wear black and white jackets with the Penguin Logistics logo printed on them.

There seemed to be many different styles. It was said that Emperor would distribute different uniform jackets to everyone, but of course, that was a perk only for employees he was more familiar with. Ordinary employees would naturally wear regular uniform jackets.

"Yeah, it's just a basic thin jacket. I think you can get a regular uniform jacket for free."

Sora recalled slightly. After all, her uniform was custom-made from the start, so she didn't fully understand the regular uniform jackets.

"I'll take that one. As long as it can block wind and sun, that's fine."

As soon as he heard it was free, Shirou naturally had no reason to refuse. Anyway, the weather was getting warmer, and it wouldn't be too late to get a new thick jacket when winter came again.

Besides, he was still growing, so any clothes he owned wouldn't last him more than a year. Therefore, he didn't need to be picky; as long as it was usable, it was fine.

20 The Red Door

"Haa... A lot happened today. I also ate a very filling dinner. Luckily, the fish didn't taste too bad."

Shirou, who had already washed up and returned to his room, stretched and recalled the events of the day.

He had wandered into the lower city, rushed into a fire to save someone, chatted a bit with Sora, and then gave Croissant a croissant for dinner. He also cooked a big meal to tempt Croissant, but of course, he was just teasing her. In the end, Croissant still ate her fill.

He had to admit, seeing Croissant on the verge of tears from craving food was truly stress-relieving.

Shirou wrapped the Holy Shroud on his bed around his hand and began his projection practice for the day.

There were already many kinds of swords on the table. Shirou could now project ordinary blades without chanting and produce decent results.

However, he was currently limited to ordinary swords. Projecting Originium staves, which had the shape of swords, was something the current Shirou couldn't do.

"Can't I project Originium?"

Shirou pondered the reason why he couldn't project it and finally attributed it to Originium.

He tried to project Texas's Originium light sword. Normally, it was just a hilt, and when activated, the blade would appear like a lightsaber. Texas always took care of her sword hilt after returning from missions, so Shirou understood part of the principle.

Shirou could project the hilt part, but he couldn't make the blade appear like Texas could.

He hadn't tried letting Texas use the hilt he projected. After all, Originium was a very dangerous substance here. If it was truly impossible to use because of Originium, he couldn't let her take that risk to test it.

Shirou himself wasn't exactly a righteous Magus. Rather than researching magic, he preferred to use magic as a convenient tool. People like him were apparently contemptuously called Magus.

"I should be able to try projecting Noble Phantasms?"

Shirou drew the magic from the newly projected swords, letting them dissipate.

Solidifying a projected item required more magic, but the table was too crowded now, so Shirou had no intention of adding them to the table.

"Trace on

Appraise the concept of creation, Envision the basic framework,"

Copy the constituent materials, Mimicking production techniques, Empathizing with growth experiences, Reproducing years of accumulation, Surpassing, completing numerous projects—"

As he chanted, a ball of light first appeared in Shirou's hand, then gradually took the shape of a sword, and by the end of the chant, it had become a black blade.

This was something he saw Archer use in his memories, one of Archer's favorite weapons.

However, the one in his hand now was merely an empty shell with the appearance of the real thing.

How did he manage to directly project Noble Phantasms back then? Was he cheating?

During his few days with Penguin Logistics, Shirou had gradually learned their way of speaking.

Of course, he wouldn't casually use Longmen slang, but he had become quite accustomed to the ordinary everyday language.

Shirou looked at the sword in his hand and pondered for a moment. Although it was a complete defective product, he ultimately didn't discard it. Instead, he decided to wrap it in a clean cloth and place it on the table.

After all, it was the first Noble Phantasm he had projected since he could remember, so Shirou intended to keep it carefully.

"Ouch… this familiar ache."

As Shirou stood up, holding the cloth-wrapped sword, he felt a familiar soreness.

"Have I already entered old age?"

Shirou rubbed the aching parts, lamenting that he seemed to be like Taiga, experiencing aches and pains here and there from time to time.

After arranging some swords on the table, he placed the wrapped sword in his hand in the cleared space.

"It's about time, isn't it."

Having tidied up, Shirou checked the time; it was already past eleven, nearing midnight.

He lay down on the bed, and after a tiring day, Shirou quickly fell into a deep sleep.

"...Is it almost time?"

A deep male voice echoed.

"Almost time for what?"

Shirou was woken by the voice and looked around.

It was the space with those four doors. No, now there were only three doors left.

"Why am I here?"

Shirou was confused for a moment, then he noticed something was wrong.

"Wait, the chains on the doors are gone?"

Shirou realized the chains that had always been wrapped around the doors had disappeared. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to push open one of the doors.

This time, he pushed open the red door. The reason was the same: it was closer.

The moment he pushed it open, Shirou's consciousness sank.

His memories before the Holy Grail War were largely the same: either on his way to cook or on his way to help others.

Until that night, when he summoned Saber again in that warehouse and repelled Lancer.

The difference was that when Saber pursued Lancer and fought Archer, he used a Command Spell to stop Saber's attack.

From this point on, the events diverged significantly from his previous memories. Due to Archer's increased involvement, the problems between Shirou and Archer in his memories gradually surfaced.

First was the issue of magecraft. With Archer's repeated battles, his magic circuits in his memory gradually resonated and assimilated with Archer's.

This time, the degree of assimilation was more pronounced, which gave Shirou an answer: as long as he and Archer existed simultaneously, his magic circuits, being those of an ordinary person, would become similar to Archer's due to the resonance.

Witnessing the battles firsthand would make it even more apparent.

The battle with Berserker, the battle at Ryuudou Temple, the battle with... himself.

Archer, due to the Command Spells, had not directly attacked him before. Even after their contract was broken, he could have killed him at any time, yet he still didn't.

What Archer wanted was to defeat the ideal of the "hero of justice" from a psychological standpoint. Although he understood that doing so wouldn't make him, as a Heroic Spirit, disappear.

But one had to try everything, right?

With each successive battle, the Shirou in his memories mastered the only thing Archer possessed—Unlimited Blade Works.

Eroding the real world with the world of his mind.

It was only then that Shirou understood what his Projection Magic truly was.

It wasn't simple projection; it was copying swords into Unlimited Blade Works, and when he wanted to use them, he would retrieve them by consuming mana.

That was all he possessed.

In this scenario, with the magical support from himself and Rin, he activated Unlimited Blade Works and defeated Gilgamesh, who hadn't had time to react.

If his opponent had adopted the attitude from his previous memories, it would have been very difficult for him to win.

In the last of his memories, he followed Rin to study abroad in London. Here, he no longer clung to the ideal of being a "hero of justice."

Besides Rin's influence, he also felt guilty about continuing to emulate Archer's way of life if he were to become a hero of justice. No matter how well he played the role of a hero of justice, sacrifices would inevitably occur; in the end, it was merely self-satisfaction.

Seeing the genuine smile his past self had shown when facing Rin in his memories, Shirou understood that his current self had found what he wanted to do.

Shirou's consciousness withdrew, and with it came a sharp pain.

"Guh—"

The sudden pain caused Shirou to let out a pained roar.

21 Penguin Logistics Breakfast Shop

"Croissant, what are you calling us up so early for?"

Exusiai asked, yawning, to the croissant in front of her.

"While sleeping and waking early is good, this is just too early, isn't it?"

Sora pulled open the curtains, but it was still pitch black outside. The clock showed it was around five o'clock.

They usually slept until seven or eight, then got up to wash and wait for Shirou to feed them. However, today Croissant had dragged them out of bed.

"Zzz…"

Texas was already fast asleep, slumped upright in her chair.

"You better have a good reason, or I'll stuff a croissant in your mouth,"

Exusiai, slightly more awake, declared with a threat.

"Hmph, of course, I have a valid reason. Look at Shirou waking up early every day to make breakfast for us. Shouldn't we also try waking up early to make a delicate breakfast for Shirou?"

Croissant patted her chest, saying this with a confident expression.